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Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
October 23, 2005
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
God said, "You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans. If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them. If you take your neighbor's cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before the sun goes down; for it may be your neighbor's only clothing to use as cover; in what else shall that person sleep? And if your neighbor cries out to me, I will listen, for I am compassionate."
1 Happy are they
who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, *
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
2 Their delight
is in the law of the LORD, *
and they meditate on his law day and night.
3 They are like
trees planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; *
everything they do shall prosper.
4 It is not so
with the wicked; *
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the
wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, *
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.
6 For the LORD
knows the way of the righteous, *
but the way of the wicked is doomed.
You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.
Ustedes mismos, hermanos, saben que nuestra visita a ustedes no fue en vano. Más bien, aunque, como ya saben, antes habíamos sido insultados y maltratados en Filipos, Dios nos ayudó a anunciarles a ustedes su evangelio, con todo valor y en medio de una fuerte lucha. Porque no estábamos equivocados en lo que predicábamos, ni tampoco hablábamos con malas intenciones ni con el propósito de engañar a nadie. Al contrario, Dios nos aprobó y nos encargó el evangelio, y así es como hablamos. No tratamos de agradar a la gente, sino a Dios, que examina nuestros corazones. Como ustedes saben, nunca los hemos halagado con palabras bonitas, ni hemos usado pretextos para ganar dinero. Dios es testigo de esto. Nunca hemos buscado honores de nadie: ni de ustedes ni de otros. Aunque muy bien hubiéramos podido hacerles sentir el peso de nuestra autoridad como apóstoles de Cristo, nos hicimos como niños entre ustedes. Como una madre que cría y cuida a sus propios hijos, así también les tenemos a ustedes tanto cariño que hubiéramos deseado darles, no solo el evangelio de Dios, sino hasta nuestras propias vidas. ¡Tanto hemos llegado a quererlos!
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,`The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet"'? If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
